Bruckheimer and Disney parted ways by 2013 thanks to both Bruckheimer producing a bevy of duds for the studio (G-Force, Prince of Persia, The Lone Ranger, etc.) as well as Marvel Studios & Lucasfilm replacing Jerry Bruckheimer productions as Disney's go-to source for action blockbusters. However, in their time together, they did produce some fondly-remembered movies, including the 2004 Jon Turteltaub directorial effort National Treasure. What's this movie about? It's the film where Nicolas Cage steals the Declaration of Independence. More specifically, Cage's character Ben Gates, a treasure hunter, is determined to find a treasure his family has been searching for centuries. The only way to uncover that treasure is through a clue on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
Gates will have to outwit rival treasure hunter Ian Howe (Sean Bean), as well as team up with Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), to get this endeavor accomplished. Traveling to a number of famous American landmarks, chase scenes and plenty of other action movie tomfoolery ensue. The screenplay for National Treasure, credited to Jim Kouf and Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley, makes no bones about what it is. This is a silly treasure hunter movie. This is the kind of movie where flares fall down in slow-motion, where trivia about daylights saving time can save the day and where Nicolas Cage can jump off the side of aircraft cruiser with not even a scratch on his body.
It's all ridiculous but the screenwriters constantly commit to preposterousness as well as playing things with faux-gravitas rather than straining to be all self-aware and meta. That means, more of then than not, National Treasure is a hoot to watch. Plus, National Treasure tends to be edited like a heist movie on crack, that's also fun. Further aiding the entertaining nature of the proceedings is how its fun to watch a PG-rated family movie tiptoe on that fine line between PG and PG-13. Guns get shot, chase scenes straight out of a Bourne movie occur, National Treasure doesn't come across as dumbing its material down for a younger audience. It's an action movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer that just so happens to be appropriate for youngsters to see.
And then there's Nicolas Cage, who really is perfectly cast in the lead role of a movie like National Treasure. I love Nicolas Cage so much for many reasons but chief among them is how much he commits to his roles. If you're doing serious drama, Cage can nail that. That scene where Cage just screams in anguish in his bathroom in Mandy should have been ridiculous. But in the hands of Cage, he lends such an authentic portrayal of emotional turmoil to the scene that makes it so raw and affecting. However, if you're doing a trashy genre movie, Cage is also your guy. He doesn't sleepwalk his way through this material nor does he act aloof like he's above it. Cage will wallow in the trashy excess of genre fare and have a ball doing it.
To wit, Cage brings the kind of self-serious conviction necessary for National Treasure to work. You can't have an actor delivering snarky quips when portraying Ben Gates. You need a performer willing to imbue this ridiculous material with gravitas, that's where the fun begins. Cage delivers lines like "I'm gonna steal the Declaration of Independence" with all the serious conviction he can muster. A later scene where he notes the seriousness of a location the Declaration of Independence has inadvertently found itself in similarly benefits from Cage's endearingly high level of commitment. Not everything in National Treasure works, with a generic bad guy and an overlong runtime (it's a Jerry Bruckehimer movie, of course it runs twenty minutes too long) being the chief drawbacks. But for the most part, National Treasure works as a fun Saturday matinee feature and a showcase for how much fun it is to see Nicolas Cage chew the scenery in over-the-top genre fare.
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